Stand Your Ground Lawshttp://www.pfaw.org/
Fri, 08 Nov 2013 12:40:01 -0500Sat, 09 Nov 2013 16:16:30 -0500Larry Pratt: 'Probably What Killed' Trayvon Martin Was His 'Broken Family'http://www.pfaw.org/content/larry-pratt-probably-what-killed-trayvon-martin-was-his-broken-family
<p>In an interview with NewsMax&rsquo;s Steve Malzberg yesterday, Gun Owners of American executive director Larry Pratt said that Trayvon Martin was killed because he had a &ldquo;broken family.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Pratt and Malzberg were discussing last week&rsquo;s Senate hearing on <a href="http://blog.pfaw.org/content/our-country-deserves-better-stand-your-ground-laws">Stand Your Ground laws</a>, at which Martin&rsquo;s mother Sybrina Fulton gave <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/29/trayvon-martin-mother-calls-on-states-to-clarify-stand-your-ground-laws/?intcmp=latestnews">impassioned testimony</a>. At the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/10/cruz-and-durbin-battle-over-race-and-stand-your-ground/71054/">dismissed</a> Fulton&rsquo;s testimony as &ldquo;simply mourning the loss of your son&rdquo; and asserted that Stand Your Ground laws in fact &ldquo;protect those in African-American communities.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The gun activist and radio host heartily agreed with Cruz. &ldquo;Had she looked at the numbers, she would have found that as a percentage of blacks compared to a percentage of whites&hellip;&rdquo; Pratt began. Malzberg finished his sentence: &ldquo;The laws benefit the African-American community down there more so than they do the white community, you&rsquo;re right.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In fact, a <em>Tampa Bay Times</em> <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/race-plays-complex-role-in-floridas-stand-your-ground-law/1233152">analysis</a> of Stand Your Ground cases in Florida found <a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/07/no-blacks-dont-benefit-floridas-stand-your-ground-law/67266/">substantial racial disparities</a> in the application of the law, including that &ldquo;people who killed a black person walked free 73 percent of the time, while those who killed a white person went free 59 percent of the time.&rdquo; A <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/is-there-racial-bias-in-stand-your-ground-laws/">national study </a>found a similar disparity.</p>
<p>Pratt concluded that Fulton had it all wrong and &ldquo;probably what killed her son was the broken family that he was forced to deal with. That&rsquo;s often an indicator that a young man is going to have trouble, of either race, of any race.&rdquo;</p>
<p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.pfaw.org//www.youtube.com/embed/heQvAwiL7TI" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Pratt has previously<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pratt-racist-holder-wants-keep-white-people-defending-selves-against-black-mobs"> said</a> that Attorney General Holder is &ldquo;racist&rdquo; and was using the Martin case to &ldquo;intimidate&rdquo; white people into not defending themselves against &ldquo;black mobs,&rdquo; and even alleged that Holder and President Obama were using the case to <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pratt-obama-clinton-holder-using-zimmerman-case-bring-about-communism">bring about communism</a>.</p>
Miranda BlueC4Gun Owners of AmericaLarry PrattStand Your Ground LawsSteve MalzbergTrayvon Martin44841Fri, 08 Nov 2013 12:40:01 -0500Stand Your Ground Laws